When the Olympic Games come around and we watch world-class marathoners run amazing times in their bids for a gold medal, you might wonder where the drive to excel comes from -- that motivation to train more than 100 miles a week, year after year after year.

Watching the lean and graceful women and men race through the streets of London during the 2012 Games, you will perhaps think to yourself, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be an elite marathoner?'

Perhaps not, if you had to endure even a fraction of what Kim Jones went through during her childhood and adulthood. After reading "Dandelion Growing Wild," the just-published book by Jones, a new Boulder resident and one of America's best marathoners ever, you will likely be glad that you did not go through what she did growing up, no matter what the rewards at the end of the race.

Jones, 54, was our best female marathoner of the 1990s and ranks behind only 1984 gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson in U.S. female marathoning lore. Jones finished second at the world's biggest marathons, including Berlin, New York and Chicago. She was a stalwart on the road racing circuit, a blonde beauty racing light-footed through the streets on her way to wins, accolades and prize money.

Through all the miles and wins, Jones was carrying a heavy burden, the legacy of a childhood that could only be compared to an Isabel Allende novel. Her husband, former road race star Jon Sinclair, calls it "horrific."

Now, Jones has published her life stories to pass them along. Her daughter Jamie, a University of Colorado graduate, will soon become a mother.

Mike Sandrock

"I feel at peace now that I've finished my book," said Jones, nicknamed "Dandelion Head" as a kid because her fine, white hair often stood straight up. "It was a huge undertaking, but well worth the effort. I've accomplished more than I could have imagined: It goes beyond catharsis. I hope the messages in 'Dandelion Growing Wild' will help many people in similar circumstances.

"My story shows how I overcame many obstacles, traumas and disappointments. That it can be done, and you can grow stronger."

"Dandelion Growing Wild" is that rare sports book that has the potential to cross over into the mainstream reading public. The story opens with Kim's father, Laurin Seelye, burning down the "prostitute house" -- the former brothel where they lived. No fire departments came. Everything was lost, from a favorite blanket to goldfish and pet turtles.

Jones wrote: "We had nothing left. Dad was sick and couldn't work. There were seven kids to take care of."

Her club-footed father's story goes downhill from there. He is bitten by a rabid dog; he falls off a grain silo and becomes a morphine addict. He goes "berserk" at times, screaming at Jones' mother. Later, he is diagnosed with the neurological disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and doctors suspect he has schizophrenia. He is in and out of the hospital, until the dramatic unfolding of his ending.

There is, however, no "woe is me" in Jones' story, and in one passage she gives some insight into how she was forged into a world-class athlete.

"Dad wasn't always a lunatic, though. There were times when he was a good father, and even read from his Bible." One fall afternoon, Laurin puts his arm around his daughter and explains the biblical passage from Romans he is reading. "We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perserverance character, and character hope."

"He grabbed me and started tickling me until I laughed from deep down in my belly. 'Because suffering will make you my tough little Swede.'"

Indeed it did, and as you read "Dandelion Growing Wild," you might wonder, as I did during a chat with former NCAA 10,000 meter champ Patty Murray, why does it take so much suffering to produce toughness? Why can't it come from love and kindness, from gentleness and compassion?

"Adversity seems to produce champions," said Murray, who started reading "Dandelion Growing Wild" after her husband, Dave Albo, read it.

Running, especially along the beaches of Port Townsend, Wash., was Jones' escape from the dysfunctional family she found herself in, and from the tragedies that seem to mark the years of her adulthood like the changing of the seasons. Running gave her hope, joy and a career.

"I have always been impressed with how Kim runs and how she overcame adversity," said Murray. Now, Murray and the rest of us can be impressed by how Jones writes, as she has penned a story of pathos and passion that ranks among the best and most gripping books written by a runner I've come across.

As Jones puts it, "Dandelion Growing Wild" is "not so much about the running life but rather my endurance and triumph within that life."

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